Vulnerability
by Tindercrest
Summary: A parallel finale to the series, the team faces one of their most daunting tasks...will Elie be able to manipulate her latent power, Ethelion? One lengthy chapter of Rave...


**Disclaimer:** Groove Adventure Rave and its characters described here are owned by their respective owners...Elie...Plue..._-chibi Lee-kun grabs plush Plue_ (how redundant...) _that is the same height as him-_ I'm not that informative concerning the details of this series, but I hope y'all like it. I appreciate constructive criticisms from you, reader, since I am just starting out with creating one-shot fanfiction on my own....

**Vulnerability**

**_The Rave shall seal the greatest power known to man in the moment where hope dies with it._**

These were the words that remained in Elie's thoughts for a long time already. They, Haru, Plue, Musica, Griffoncato, and she; have been rave-hunting inside an empty cavern that was once a stronghold for another Rave. They have been unsuccessful lately in locating these rare jewels even with the combined effort of both the Ravemaster and Rave-seeker.

Haru, the wielder of the sword, Ten Commandments, has three Raves already at hand. Only two remain scattered in various continents, and Plue, the drill-snouted Rave-seeker/Rave Guardian, led them to an unknown continent. Their ventures and misadventures directed the group to a forgotten lair that was empty save for a dust-laden pedestal that contained an inscription:

_**The Rave shall seal the greatest power known to man in the moment where hope dies with it.**_

For a moment, Elie forgot the words, becoming more aware of the searing sunrays burning her skin instead.

_Greatest power? I wonder what could that be..._

"Hey Elie! We're gonna leave you there if you don't hurry!" Haru's voice bellowed a few steps away from her.

"Haru, wait!" came a panting reply. "Wait for me..." _-sigh-_

Musica and Haru kept on with their pace, however. Elie followed suit, her head staring at the cloudless blue sky, resting on her folded arms. Yes, the desert could be unforgiving, but it is also the perfect place to observe a clear heaven.

_The Rave shall seal...hmm, maybe it has something to do with Resha and me again..._

"Elie? What's the matter?" Haru asked while moving back towards her. Elie, however didn't hear him.

A spunky voice from Musica answered Haru. "Forget about her...she's not in this world, you know...her head's still in the clouds, man."

_Greatest power...Ethelion...Dark Bring...Overdrive?_

Elie was too focused on her thoughts that she did not notice a rock in front of her. It was too late perhaps, when she tripped, but then...

"Elie! Gotcha..." Haru exclaimed as he caught her in the nick of time. "Hey, are you all right?"

Still fazed from both the fall and the hold Haru had on her, Elie managed to mumble a mild "Yeah..." to her rescuer. Little do they know that they were holding onto each other for quite a while that the rest of the group surrounded them.

"Uh, you could stop cuddling now..." Musica's now-indifferent voice said.

"puuruu..." whined a shivering Plue.

After realizing it for a second, the two let go immediately and turned their backs from each other. An awkward explain-yourselves-silence ensued afterwards accompanied by jealous stares, crossed arms, and raised eyebrows.

"Er, um, Elie, you better watch where you're going okay? I won't catch you again, you hear? Haha...ha..."

"Yeah...haha...thanks, Haru...I'll watch my step...hahaha..."

It was only then that the others believed them and they decided to move on. Musica put his left arm over Haru's shoulders and they continued their discussion a while back. Griff went alongside the two, while Elie picked up Plue and held it/him/her close to her chest. She continued her previous pace and went back to staring the serene sky once "

_Haru...I'm sorry that I can't reveal to you my true feelings for you...I'm afraid you won't accept me as who or what I am._

A boisterous laughter echoed for a while that came from the trio in front. Elie just stares at Haru, his silver hair, his haughty stance, his unreasonable mix of clothes, _everything _was all right about him.

_Haru...with or without the Rave, I have fallen for you the first time we met...I'm just lucky that I had you as the one who could help me find my memory; my protector, and my hero..._

A sweet smile appeared on her lips as she looked up into the sky once more. A smile only for him, she thought, as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

_I'll never let you go...even if I will be consumed by my own power, Haru, please don't leave my side..._

She opened her eyes and continued on with her blank stare in space.

_I want to be of help to you somehow, with this power, I could take down all the Dark Brings in this world...I'll---_

"PURUUU!!!" the Rave-seeker cried as it lifted its paw towards a black speck in the blue expanse of the sky that was heading towards them...fast. A glint of a silver object turning fiery orange could be seen held by the rider on a winged reptile creature.

"Haruuu!!! Musicaaa!!!" Elie yelled to her comrades. "Something's coming this way from above!"

They glanced at the direction she's pointing at to see the unknown intruder with a clearer view this time. They only had a second to realize who was after them before they knew the adversary they had to face.

"Everyone, duck! It's Lucia, and he's going to use _his_ Ten Commandments' _Explosion_!" Haru called out.

Almost everyone managed to follow his command except himself, since the pronunciation of the name of the weapon and attack took far too long for him to react. Haru received an _Explosion_ from behind, but was saved thanks to his Ten Commandments still sheathed at his back.

"Haru!" his friends cried in unison.

They tried to help him by going to his location, but were immediately halted by a nineteen-foot black drake with torn leather wings.

"Tera," came a slick, but resonant voice from behind the drake. "You take care of them. Kill them immediately if you want."

A voice clearly hurt, but still strong responded, "Lucia...I still remember what you did to Elie..." Haru stood up his ground, not wincing due to pain, which was evident on his left shoulder. He unsheathed his Ten Commandments and inserted a Rave jewel on the hollow cross-shaped slot on it.

"I could never..." he slowly said, clutching the sword on his right hand.

"...ever..." the Ten Commandments transforming into its fiery orange form.

"...forgive you for taking that away from her..." his left hand was shaking in fury at Lucia. Lucia, however, just gave him a sinister stare and smiled the most loathsome smile to Haru.

"Oh yeah? Well, what are _you_ going to do about it? Battle me and get beaten once more? Come on, I've proven to you twice that Sinclair is way better than your---"

"SHUT UP!!! Enough talk and let's start then, you fool!"

In the meantime, Musica and Elie are having a hard time dodging the flurry of Tera's tail whip attacks. Apparently, getting hit could mean severe injuries, since it is continuously altering the barren landscape with only a crack.

"Damn, I can't get close with all of you in my way!" Musica complained. "Elie, distract him for a moment while I do something...try to damage his armor, if you can with your tonfa-guns."

"Roger that!" she responded as she let loose with her tonfa-guns on the wings of the drake.

_Haru, please hold on..._

Musica leapt towards the line of fire as he made his way to grab Griff and Plue. He backstepped, threw Plue to Haru's direction and made his way back to fighting the drake again.

"Haru! I hope he could help!" Musica exclaimed as he threw Plue.

"puruuuuu!!!"

Haru, who's in the middle of a deadlock of the twin Blue Crimsons with Lucia, managed to say "Thanks" to Musica before he concentrated on their fight once more. Plue landed on his far right not so perfectly, but still able to stand on its two feet and dust itself off.

Haru pushed himself away from Lucia and was able to stop the deadlock between them. "You're just in time, Plue! Take this, " he said as he threw the Rave of Combat to Plue.

"Go on, ask help from your 'friends,' but you know that you cannot stop me..." Lucia said. "I'm destined to defeat the Rave!!!"

Elie continued her salvo of bullets on Tera, keeping the drake on the defense. She saw Musica seize his silver skull necklace, the Silver Claimer, as he transformed it into a whip.

_Haru, this'll all be over in a short while, so please hang on...please..._

She wasn't paying much attention to her target, but instead, she was listening to what Lucia and Haru have been saying. However, when she heard Lucia's last words, she completely lost her focus.

_Defeat the Holy Bring, Rave? So that means Lucia possesses---_

Musica saw the opening and said, "Elie, look out!"

"ungh!"

Her momentary lack of concentration allowed Tera to see through an opening in her defense as it launched its strongest massive tail whip attack on her left ribs, that sent her flying towards Haru's battlefield.

"ELIE!!!" Haru bellowed as she went towards her side.

"Never show your back towards your enemy, you fool!!!" Lucia cried out as he prepared to slash Haru with another _Explosion_ attack. Then again, his plan rebounded on him as Plue managed to set up an invisible barrier on Haru and Elie, which caused the damage to backfire on himself.

"Pu...puuu...puruu, puruuuu!!!" said a proud Plue.

For the moment, Elie was on Haru's shoulders while looking at him. Both of them were severely hurt, but they didn't mind.

"Elie, are you all right?"

"Haru, I need to tell you...Lucia possesses the greatest power made to destroy the Rave! It's his Dark Bring, Sinclair...you will be defeated this time, Haru, let's just run..."

Lucia kept on trying to destroy Plue's weakening barrier.

"I...can't. We can't. It's too late to run now. Our only choice is to fight this demon."

_Please, Haru, I can't afford to lose you..._

"I call upon the power my Dark Bring, Sinclair, bestows on me to empower thy master and hear thy plight!" Lucia chanted. A purple aura emanated him as he held his Ten Commandments above his head. "EXPLOSION!!!"

Plue's barrier was too weak to defend against such attack, that the Rave of Combat shattered along with the barrier.

"Haru!!!" screamed Elie as Haru deliberately laid her down to the ground and he positioned his body on top of hers so as to receive the full impact of the attack. In a second, Haru was only semi-conscious on top of Elie.

_This is just a nightmare...anyone, please wake me up from this nightmare...no, Haru...don't...die on me..._

Musica was just as badly injured as the other two. It seemed that both he and the drake were at par in terms of skill in combat. Having given and received blows, Musica knew that he was at a disadvantage if the damage he receives is greater than the damage he inflicts on Tera's armor.

"Reina, help me on this one," he muttered under his breath. "I promised I'll return to you after all this...and now, this is the time..." He transformed his Silver Claimer into a highly-concentrated-silver ring on his right middle finger.

"I'll be able to see you once more..." he repeated as he extended his right arm towards his enemy and held his left hand onto his right wrist, closed his eyes, and concentrated with all his might on the ring.

"_Silver Mist_!" he shouted as silver sparks were unleashed from his right hand towards the mouth of the drake. "Good...keep on inhaling," he said as drops of sweat due to intense concentration slid on his temples.

Lucia didn't see Haru as a threat anymore as he saw him lying helpless on Elie. He smiled that same creepy smirk as he turned to help his drake, which, much to his dismay, was in deep trouble. He plunged his Ten Commandments deep into the ground and a purple wave streaked above the ground towards the stationary Musica.

"Damn! I can't avoid this one...GYAAH!!!" Musica took a direct hit of the wave that hurt him more and made him lose concentration on his technique. Now, Musica lay sprawled on the ground with only a thin silver band on his finger.

"You know, I could kill you from afar with the same attack that I did to you," Lucia said while lifting his Ten Commandments for another dark wave. "You all were such good enter---"

A bullet hit his hand, interrupting his bragging session, and made him let go of his sword.

"Not one word from you, Lucia Rareglove..." threatened Elie, with both her tonfa-guns aimed towards him. Her face showed a serious countenance never before seen, filled with pure hatred and spite towards Lucia.

_I'll protect you this time, Haru, you have been good to me all this time, and I want to pay you back for all those good things that you did._

"Did you think you could---AAH!" Lucia exclaimed, apparently not understanding the command given by Elie as he was hit in the leg. Musica could only stare at Elie's serious trance while Tera is in agony by the silver shards inside its body.

"Heheh...Lucia may have stopped me from completing me from utterly destroying you," said a struggling Musica with his right arm extended towards Tera. "only a few more shards and I could finish this..."

"This is for all the people you've killed for your own selfishness!" Elie yelled as she let loose her bullets from her tonfa-guns. However, Lucia set up a barrier made by the Dark Bring Sinclair. It was too late for Elie to realize that he had chanted a spell before shooting him.

"I told you, I am destined to defeat the Rave..." he repeated, grasping again for his sword. "Not only Rave, but also those who chose to side with it!" Then, he laughed the most psychotic laugh he could ever make.

_Hatred, revenge, angst, anger; fuel my sordid desire to unleash my every ounce of power to defeat this adversary..._

Elie threw away her tonfa-guns and directed her palms towards Lucia, her yellow battle aura spreading throughout her body. Haru lay in front of her, body beaten and battle worn.

_For you, Haru, I shall protect you with all my power, even if it costs me my life and my ability to control this power I hold in my soul..._

"You will taste firsthand the might of _Ethelion_!" she declared as both Lucia and Musica showed looks of genuine surprise. "I bid thee to release thy power onto the bearer of the strongest Dark Bring, I unleash thee, _Ethelion_!"

The overwhelming aura of the coming _Ethelion_ prompted Lucia to take action as he too summoned his strongest aura he could muster from Sinclair and charged towards Elie, sword ready for a lunge.

Tera beckoned his remaining strength to gather in a final breath attack that would instantly vaporize all in its path, and directed his mouth towards Musica. Visible chi particles were gathering in its mouth, ready for the Tera Wave.

"You just made my work easier, drake," Musica taunted under his breath as he closed his right fist with only a very thin strip of silver that is wrapped around his finger. Tera has gathered enough energy to perform his attack and it reared its head back to release the Tera Wave.

"_Silver Distortion!_" Musica cried out as Tera the drake imploded from the inside of its body and was sucked in a silver warp, including the massive Tera Wave it released into nothingness.

Yellow aura was rapidly descending from the atmosphere as a clash of _Ethelion_'s aura and Sinclair's purple aura resulted.

_Haru...forgive me...I let myself be consumed by my power...I'm afraid I broke our promise back then that I'll never willingly release this power...sorry..._

Lucia Rareglove closed in for the attack and Elie call for all of her will to control _Ethelion_ and annihilate him. However, at the last minute, she was stabbed in her chest by a green sword from below.

"Loonsave...Haru, why...?"

At that moment, both of them received the full blast of Lucia's attack and were sent flying a hundred meters away from the explosion.

For a second, Lucia's overwhelming Dark aura was exhausted after the attack. But it was only a second that Musica needed to launch a sneak attack from behind Lucia and killed him with a stab from what was left of his Silver-Claimer.

"That's for...what you did...to me...a while...ago..." he groaned, having been in the center of the explosion by Lucia, and fell down after Lucia did. "Reina...I'm sorry..." Musica Hamrio and Lucia Rareglove breathed their last.

_Haru, why did you seal my power? Why...?_

Elie could only try to voice out what she had been thinking to Haru.

"Elie...why did you break...our promise...?" Haru weakly asked, as he is lying spread-eagled on the charred ground.

"...Because I couldn't...bear to see you...in pain..." she replied with a barely audible voice as she tried to get closer to Haru but couldn't.

"Elie...I thought...you believed in...me...I told you...I will...protect you...with all my life...even if it means...protecting you from...yourself...that wasn't...the Elie..." he raised himself up and crawled towards her with his face close to hers. "...I fell...in love with...the Elie...that on...protecting...until I die..."

It was only then that she knew how he felt for her.

_Strongest force...? Was it Ethelion, or my hatred then? I guess I don't feel any hatred anymore..._

"Haru...when we met...you told me...that you'd help...me find my memories...I just want to tell you...even if my memories are still lost...I value more...the memories I spent with you..." Elie said to his face with a smile.

"...So did I..." Haru Glory replied with his voice fading as he moved his lips towards hers, and kissed her goodbye.

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_-blink- -blink- _Too much cheese...so lengthy...please submit reviews...they could help me improve the most. Thanks!


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